833 pounds of pot, 21 pounds of cocaine seized
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 02/22/2008 12:00:00 AM MST


Customs and Border Protection officers made 10 drug busts at area ports of entry Wednesday, seizing 833 pounds of marijuana and 20.8 pounds of cocaine, and detained several suspected smugglers, including a 62-year-old man, agency officials said.

The cocaine was found in a compartment attached to a transmission transfer case underneath a 1992 Ford Aerostar van at the Zaragoza Bridge about 10 a.m. The driver, Ignacio Holguin Garcia, 62, of Juárez, was arrested.

At the same border crossing at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, CBP officers seized 208 pounds of marijuana from a compartment in the floor of the SUV of a man who was traveling with his girlfriend and their two preschool-age children. The man, Manuel Banuelos Martinez, 21, of Booker, Texas, was arrested. The woman and children were released, officials said.

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